The race for the 2026 NBA MVP award isn't the only honor Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has steadily lost support for as of late, as Dwyane Wade recently made arguably an even more astonishing case against the point guard's claim to being the greatest player in OKC Thunder history.
To the Hall of Famer, that label still belongs to Russell Westbrook.
In a recently resurfaced clip from an early March episode of The Why with Dwyane Wade, the eponymous host backed The Brodie as Oklahoma City's G.O.A.T.
"I still think that Russell Westbrook is the greatest player in Oklahoma City history right now... Russ averaged four triple-doubles four times in four years... He did something as a player in the league that no one ever thought was going to be done [and] he did it four years in a row," Wade said.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has even lost support as Thunder G.O.A.T
It goes without saying that the love the Sooner State has for Westbrook goes well beyond the game of basketball.
Yes, the on-court accolades that have him ranking at or near the top of virtually every splashy historical metric imaginable are truly remarkable, but his philanthropy work within the community has perhaps been even greater, and, in turn, has undoubtedly cemented him into the good graces of the OKC faithful for life.
With all that being said, after putting forth a 2024-25 season that saw him lead the league in scoring at 32.7 points per game, become just the third player in Thunder history to win MVP, and, obviously the biggest accomplishment, guiding the club to their first championship while taking home Finals MVP honors, many seemed more than ready to anoint Shai as the club's greatest player of all time.
Wade, isn't so sure.
During his spiel, the Heat legend used his status as G.O.A.T out in Miami in his Westbrook-backing logic, saying: "You can't tell me that a player can come through Miami right now, win a regular season MVP and win a Finals and a Finals MVP and he just becomes the greatest player in Miami history."
Of course, this argument falls short because Wade won three titles with the Heat during his playing career, one of which came well before LeBron James joined him.
To no overbearing fault of his own, even with all of his on-paper heroics, Westbrook never was able to guide the Thunder to ultimate glory during his 11 years with the club. Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, managed to do so in his sixth, while also technically only being in the early stages of his prime.
Now, in their title-defense tour here in 2025-26, the 27-year-old not only has Oklahoma City tabbed as the odds-on favorites to become the first repeat champion since the 2018 Warriors, but, even amid the uptick in outside noise against his candidacy, is on track to become just the 15 player in NBA history to win back-to-back MVPs, with ESPN giving him minus-380 odds to do so.
If his already illustrious resume isn't enough to sway Wade's vote in the OKC G.O.A.T conversation, then perhaps running it back as both league MVP and an NBA Champion might just do the trick.